"Gymnastics: Ferrari and Rizzo triumph as judging system overhauled" - http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_sports/view/236995/1/.html 15 year old Vanessa Ferrari -Italy's first women's gold in AA Elizabeth Tweddle - Britain gold on uneven bars Australia's Philippe Rizzo gold on high bar Ferrari's coach, Enrico Casella on Ferrari: (Ferrari had a strong floor routine to take gold with 61.025, Jana Bieger had 60.750, and Sandra Raluca Izbasa had 60.250, even though she fell on beam; She also took bronze on the uneven bars and the floor in event finals.) [quote]"The new code really helped," he said. "The gymnasts who made big mistakes did not have big deductions. If you have four or five little mistakes it's more serious," he said. "I think that the best gymnasts did win. She (Ferrari) had a high start value and was able to support the mistake on the beam. Izbasa was very good but she made little mistakes. "If you have a gymnast who is complete on all the appartus and with a high start value they have a big advantage, nearly one point, on the other gymnasts." Casella said the technical committee should look closer at the "problem" of calculating the start value. But he believes European champion Ferrari would have won under the old system anyway. "You have to work with what you have," he said. "I think the new system is better because you can build the exercises with more precision and decide to push the difficulty. "The problem is only the execution of the exercise and the evaluation of the judges. But it's possible to improve this. "It's the first world championships with these new rules. They will now give new consideration and hope with the next world championships it will be ready for the Olympic Games." [/quote] Canada says their home judges are having a tough time with the new code since it changed so much. Australia's Phillippe Rizzo, likes the new code: [quote]"My start value is a lot higher and that made a big difference," said the 25-year-old. "I have more quality, but I know I can be a lot better." [/quote] Italy's Igor Cassina: [quote]Olympic high bar champion Igor Cassina of Italy had complained bitterly that it was pushing athletes to try dangerous moves, after a fall left him out of the finals. "It's difficult, you have to risk more to have a good mark. It's dangerous as well," complained the 29-year-old. [/quote] The gymnastics federation head Italian Bruno Grandi likes the new system: [quote]"The magic 10 was not magic or perfect," insisted the FIG chief. "I'm happy because we now have the possibility to evaluate every aspect of the athlete. "I think it's important to introduce another system to train the judges. "The revolution is that new countries have emerged from these championships. The days of having Romania-Russia, Russia-Romania, Romania-Russia are finished for us." [/quote] The new code of points is better open ended, but they should allow the gymnasts to warm up on the podium equipment before competiing on it to make it more safer.

Ya, they should change that rule that warm-ups are in the warm-up gym instead of on the podium - it does make a big diff. to warm-up on the equipment you're going to compete on - Blaine and Bart talked about that a lot on the Worlds programming on wcsn.com! Tasha mentioned that at least in the warm-up gym you get as many turns as you can fit in and if you warm up on the podium it's just one-touch, but still the warm up on the equipment you're going to compete on is much better and safer!! especially if the equipment is on the podium, and your steps and timing changes. The new scoring system awards the really good gymnasts better, that do the hard tricks and are also consistent. It's also kinda cool that if you fall off beam, it doesn't totally mean you're out of the AA!

I completely agree. It encourages gymnasts to do the best skills they can possibly do!